I-Day for Parents

Do all new IC team members dine with their teammates the night before and then inprocess together or was this just an informal agreement among the team members who just happened to run into each other the day before?
 
a) Acceptance day is the Wednesday after BCT ends. Usually the day before school starts. BCT ends on a Saturday. You then have about 4 days for rooms, laptops, books, school stuff, etc... There's a nice parade/ceremony for acceptance day. And you usually get to spend a couple hours with your family/friends. You can't leave, but most family bring a picnic lunch and you all find a patch of grass to hang out. (Don't forget if you go to "A" day, to have your cadet invite their friends/room mate if their family isn't going to be there. And also; be nice and let that friend/room mate use your cell phone to call their mom/dad. They won't have their cell phones available yet.

b) The football team had a breakfast at the stadium the DAY OF "I-Day". Then, if they came without family, they all hooked up and went and signed in together. If the football player had family there, they sort of just went and inprocessed like everyone else. Now that is for football players. I can't tell you what other sports do for their basics. Also; the football coaches sort of became the players "Sponsor Family" unofficially. First thing they did on I-day was to take all the player's cell phones. This way the cadre/cadets didn't take it from you like the other 99% of cadets. Then; on doolie day, when you get the day off and go to your sponsor family's house; you'd go to the coach's house, where he had your cell phone sitting there fully charged and waiting for you. Much nicer than having to share the sponsor's phone with other cadets and feeling guilty if you talk on the phone too long.

Anyway; not sure about the other sports. That's how my son and the football team worked it. Fencersmom can maybe tell you about her boys on the fencing team. Hope that helps... mike...
 
Hi everyone, we attended I-day with our son last June. Wow - I can't believe all this time has gone by so fast. I enjoyed reading these stories so here is ours.

The day before I-day, my son flew out on an AFA ticket, and we were on a different flight. The plan was to meet in Denver. Well, our flights were on schedule. Unfortunately, our son's flight got out of Detroit really late, and he missed a connection flight in Chicago. So we ended up in Denver and he was stuck in Chicago. After several hours of trying to find a way to get him on another flight, he called us and said that USAFA got him and a bunch of other basics to be on another flight into COS. We were hoping to spend a good part of the day together as a family relaxing, but he did not get into COS until about 6:30PM or so. The ironic thing is that we met a host family at the airport waiting for my son's flight to get in to pick up their new basics. Long story short, they are a fantastic family and offered to sponsor our son as well. So I guess the flight dely actually paid off in the long run. My son said almost the entire flight was new basic cadets.

Our son is IC (not football), and we barely got to the end of the team dinner that night at the Academy. Following dinner, we got to our hotel for the last night together.

Next morning at the Embassy Suites, I was up early and had breakfast. The place was full of cadets going to I-day. My son was one of the last ones to have breakfast and get ready to leave. Next thing you know, there is a power failure at the Embassy and the elevators didn't work to get up to our floor. No emergency lights in the stairwell either. The nervous dad in me was worried we were going to be late.

We finally got to AOG. What an experience…all these kids dropping off their bags with instructions from 'nice' cadre. We stood in line and then got into Doolittle Hall. Word of advise, I knew there was a back room area with a library, and a quiet area. Don't go in there as tempting as it is. Away from the crowds, emotions caught up with us. Well 5 minutes later we said our goodbyes as he went up the stairs. We saw him outside walking the Heritage Trail, going over the bridge, and getting on the red (red is bad) bus. Later he told us the bus was not a fun place to be...even though everyone knew that's where it all starts.

After he left, the Colorado parents club had a picnic for anyone who wanted to come. It was on the Academy grounds at a campsite. I am sure they will do that again. It was nice; we were able to talk with other parents.

Someone above said something about the tears and of some of it being pride. I really think it is the pride. It is almost a year later and tears of immense pride can start at any time of the day. I don't think it is sadness; it is the unbelievable pride in my son, what he has accomplished, and what he is doing.

In the afternoon on I-day, we went to the Chapel wall which was filled with parents watching for a glimpse of their basics. We finally saw our son from a distance late in the day. Yeah!

We went to the Swearing In ceremony the next morning. Get there about an hour early because the Chapel wall gets full. More tears (of pride) through that. Recently my son began talking a little about I-processing. He said they were actually sworn in, in a room. He said at that moment he knew he was joining something bigger than he was.

We spent a few days in the Springs after that. We went white water rafting that was really cool. Also note, the Chapel wall will become your place to go to daily when you are in the Springs.

We joined the Webguy and were glued to the computer daily looking for pictures of the Cobras A - and our basic. We found pictures almost every day. I remember thinking we knew more about what he was doing daily than if he went to State U.

My wife and I went to Acceptance Day in early August. If you can make this work, I recommend it. We only had a few hours with our son after the ceremony, but it was fantastic watching the marching, band, and seeing your cadet get their much coveted shoulder boards placed on them. There is a forum on the AOG Webguy site and the parents get to know one another. The parents of the squadrons set up picnic lunches for their squadrons after the ceremony. This was really great. Not all parents could make the trip, so whoever went made sure to buy enough lunches for multiple new C4C cadets. We picked up about a dozen sandwiches from Quiznos to share. The several hours together were short, but very much worth it.

Get to Parents Weekend at all costs. This is over the Labor Day weekend and you should get your hotel reservations now. They will sell out and probably have done so already.

We have been pretty lucky. Even though we live in MI, we got out there for a sport camp the summer before inprocessing, Orientation, I-day, Acceptance Day, and Parents Weekend. My wife went to CA to a sporting event in November. He was home for Thanksgiving and then for Christmas. I just got back from a few days out there last week at a parents week for his team. I got to go have pizza with him at Arnolds Hall on Thursday evening, attended two classes on Friday, dinner on Friday and Saturday, and he stayed over with me at his sponsor's house on Saturday evening. It was a great time.

Well that’s about it. What a fantastic experience this has been so far. Good luck to all of you.

Bill
 
Our daughter left for the prep school earlier this year. They report and go through induction similar to the regular academy. The have a BCT, albiet a shortened version and the whole nine yards. We were torn on what to do. Ultimately, we said our goodbyes at our local airport. We figured the 3-4 hour flight would give her time to get her head together. That said, she did have a sponsor family to pick her up from the airport and she was able to spend a day establishing that relationship. They took her for induction the next morning. Out with the old family in with the new. Well, you know what I mean. It was great to know she would have support out there and have that network/comfort zone in place. We thought that was more important for her than sticking with us for another 12 hours. If you can in anyway find a sponsor family in advance and they are willing, I recommend the approach we took. Frankly, after waiting at the airport with the entire family, she was itching to go and get on with the journey. She was ready mentally to get on with it just like when she stormed up the steps on the yellow school bus when she was 5 years old. I bet your kids are ready too, the question is are you?
 
mateus, are you working basic? got the word last night that i'll be an element leader for 2nd beast in jacks :) good times this summer!
 
the first confirmed case was a cadre, but they aren't sure if he was the first to get it our if he was just the first to get seen and confirmed with it.
 
All 4,300 West Point cadets got medical exams when they arrived for summer training, said Col. Michael A. Deaton, commander of the base hospital. Anyone with symptoms or recent contact with a flu patient would have been given a nasal swab flu test, and a positive result would have put the cadet in quarantine barracks.

“Because they’re military, we can tell them what to do,” Colonel Deaton said. “It’s less like herding cats than it is on the average college campus.”


...My favorite, from a New York Times article on H1N1 on college campuses. "We're different. They do what we tell them."
 
Thanks for posting these great stories!

Can someone tell me what AOG stands for? Thanks.
 
Association of Graduates

It's basically the official "Alumni" association for academy graduates. The provide a lot of services for our cadets as well as graduates. Quick google will get you further info if needed. mike...
 
I know the fencing team did not have breakfast or anything else on I-Day or A-Day. Maybe because all the cadets, even the "recruited" cadets, still have to try out?

I can't say enough good things about sponsor families. My kids' have been absolutely wonderful in every regard.
 
Does anyone know what the schedule is for I day I have seen post that parents stuck around for a ceremony. We are driving my son up going fishing and then staying the night in the springs area.

1) Is it better to drop him off early or later in the morning?

2) When is "the Ceremony" and can parents watch?

3) If BCT is 6 weeks and ends on saturday that puts A day on wed 8/11 can anyone confirm

4) what time of day do you get to see the cadets on A day

thanks
 
Does anyone know what the schedule is for I day I have seen post that parents stuck around for a ceremony. We are driving my son up going fishing and then staying the night in the springs area.

1) Is it better to drop him off early or later in the morning?
Get him there early. At least around 9-9:30am. Don't be the last one which is around 11am
2) When is "the Ceremony" and can parents watch?
The ceremony I believe is the next day when they take their oath.
3) If BCT is 6 weeks and ends on saturday that puts A day on wed 8/11 can anyone confirm
You're off by 1 week. BCT is actually 5 weeks and 3 days. "A" day will be on August 4th, and classes start the next day.
4) what time of day do you get to see the cadets on A day
You watch the ceremony in the morning, around 9am. Lasts about an hour. After that, you can watch your son/daughter get their shoulder boards put on. After that, they are free to visit with you for a couple hours. Can't leave the local cadet area.
thanks
See above in Red for answers
 
I looked back and found somthing I posted the day our son left for Colorado Springs from Tennessee last year. What I posted is the second paragraph in response to "Lamor's" post from the first paragraph. I am happy to say that one year later we have been successful empty nesters for one year. We did not accompany our son to I-day. He is an IC soccer player and he met up with some other players at the hotel and they had dinner the night before with the team. Said our goodbyes at the airport. To help with your decision on whether to go or not, you are going to miss them the same whether you leave them at the airport or at In processing. You are going to have an empty feeling on the ride home from either place. If you want to experience the day for yourself then go and enjoy as much as you can. I enjoyed reading and seeing the experience in letters from our son and pictures from webguy. I was completely obsessed with finding pictures of him every evening after work. As for Parent weekend, definitely go and enjoy. Its a good time. You will then get to experience that empty feeling again when you drop your son or daughter off and watch them walk away from you across the terrazzo toward their dorm room.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Lamor
Our Cadet left yesterday morning...sigh. Now we are empty-nesters. trying to find the baby clothes so i can start dressing up the dog since he's the only one left at home.

We are also empty nesters after raising 3 sons for 30 years. We can't dress up a dog because he died in February at the age of 17. We did have a bird nest with three babies which the mother had been frantically feeding for the last two weeks in a wall mounted planter on our back covered porch. When we got home from the airport after dropping off our son, all three baby birds had left the nest. No Joke. My wife came in the house crying because all she has left to take care of is me.
 
Lifeisgood,
I laughed out loud when I read your post about the birds...

This is such a personal family choice (to go or not to go). My husband and son made the trip to CO a week before I-Day to have a father-son vacation. I said good-bye at the airport in Austin. It was VERY hard but it's what our son wanted. We all knew I would be a mess if I went to COS with them. The drive from our home to the aiport was the quietest ever...right up to the point where our son decided it would be a good idea to play "Leaving on a Jet Plane" sung by Peter, Paul and Mary on the car stereo! I just completely fell apart.

My husband hung out at the Academy all afternoon on I-Day and was able to see our son a few different times. He also visited with a lot of parents and appreciated the opportunity to experience this event firsthand. He then came back the next morning for the swearing in ceremony. I don't think he would've wanted to miss any of it. The whole family was able to travel to COS for Acceptance Day and PW - both great days in our family's album of life together.
 
This mother stayed home and cried. It was pathetic. I knew it was best for my guys, but such a bittersweet day for mom. I still bawled when they left Sunday after a week at home for spring break.
 
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